README.md

Homebrew

Homebrew is a package management system for OS X. In other words it is a tool
that helps you manage the installation of other open source software on your
Mac.

Here's why you may prefer Homebrew to the alternatives:

Zero configuration installation
Copy the contents of this directory to /usr/local. Homebrew is now ready
for use.

Or… install anywhere!
You can actually stick this directory anywhere. Like ~/.local or /opt or
/lol if you like. You can even move this directory somewhere else later.
Homebrew never changes any files outside of its prefix.

The GoboLinux approach
Packages are installed into their own prefix (eg. /usr/local/Cellar/wget)
and then symlinked into the Homebrew prefix (eg. /usr/local).

This way the filesystem is the package database and packages can be
managed with existing command line tools. For example, you can
uninstall with rm -rf, list with find, query with du. It also means you
can install multiple versions of software or libraries and switch
on demand.

Of course, you don't have to do anything by hand, we also provide a
convenient and fully-featured four-letter tool called brew.

Package descriptions not required
MacPorts doesn't support the beta version? Need an older version? Need
custom compile flags? The Homebrew tool-chain is carefully segregated so
you can build stuff by hand but still end up with package management.

Just install to the Cellar and then call brew link to symlink that
installation into your PATH, eg.

Making the most of OS X
A touch of RubyCocoa, a cheeky sysctl query or two and a smattering of
FSEvent monitoring. In these manic days of cross-platform development,
it's can be a welcome relief to use something that is better because
it isn't too generalized.

No duplication
MacPorts is an autarky -- you get a duplicate copy of zlib, OpenSSL,
Python, etc. Homebrew uses what is already there, and consequently,
most stuff has zero dependencies and builds faster.

We resist packaging stuff that is already packaged. So we have a wiki page
that describes how best to use RubyGems, Pip (or easy_install) and
CPAN with OS X and Homebrew.

Fork with Git
The formula are all on git, so just fork to add new packages, or add extra
remotes to get packages from more exotic maintainers.

Surfing the cutting edge
If the package provides a git://, svn://, cvs:// or hg:// url you can
choose to install that instead and then update as often as you like.

Homebrew has a beer theme
Beer goggles will help you to evangelise Homebrew more effectively.

Homebrew can help you hook up
There's no conclusive scientific evidence as yet, but I firmly believe
it's just a matter of time and statistics.

I know I've made it sound so awesome you can hardly wait to embrace the fresh,
hoppy taste of Homebrew, but I should point out that it is really new and
still under heavy development. Also:

It's a little more hands-on than the competition. For example, we don't
set up PostgreSQL for you after installing it, but we do provide
instructions. This isn't apathy, it's by design -- Homebrew doesn't make
assumptions about how you want your software to run. You have to have some
knowledge or be willing to learn to use Homebrew for some tasks.

Dependency resolution and updates are basic or not working yet.

We don't support PowerPC or OS X less than Tiger (though you could always
maintain your own fork for such things if you like…)

Notice how Pip was installed to homebrew/bin/pip — Homebrew never touches
files outside of its prefix.

But… we recommend installing to /usr/local because:

It's already in your PATH

It makes it easier to install other stuff like Ruby Gems

Build tools all look to /usr/local for library dependencies and thus you can
get on with building your own gems and not worry about having to Google for
unnecessary build assistance.

But… don't sudo!

Homebrew can be used with or without sudo, but, OS X was designed to
minimise sudo use, you only need it occasionally. For example, as long as your
user is in the admin group, this just works:

cpan -i MP3::Info

Using sudo all the time is annoying, but far worse — it conditions you to type
in your root password without thinking about it. Homebrew compliments OS X
so you are unlikely to install anything that really needs to be chown:root.
Let this be your last sudo for some time:

sudo chown -R `whoami` /usr/local

NOTE: If you already installed, eg. MySQL into /usr/local then the recursive
chown may break it. Fixing MySQL should be as simple as:

Uninstallation

It is worth noting that if you installed somewhere like /usr/local then these
uninstallation steps will leave that directory exactly like it was before
Homebrew was installed. Unless you manually added new stuff there, in which
case those things will still be there too.

Sample Usage

Install wget:

brew install wget

Two ways to update the package descriptions:

brew update
cd /usr/local && git pull

Two ways to delete a package:

brew uninstall wget
rm -rf /usr/local/Cellar/wget && brew prune

Two ways to list all files in a package:

brew list wget
find /usr/local/Cellar/wget

Two ways to search for a package to install:

brew search
ls /usr/local/Library/Formula/

Two ways to see what is already installed:

brew list
ls /usr/local/Cellar/

Two ways to compute installed package sizes:

brew info wget
du /usr/local/Cellar/wget

Show expensive packages:

du -md1 /usr/local/Cellar

Contributing New Formulae

Create a new formula thusly:

brew create http://example.com/foo-1.2.1.tar.bz2

Homebrew automatically opens Library/Formula/foo.rb in your $EDITOR. You can
now install it: